NBCU Not Changing Strategy With New Head; Peacock Subs Hit 22 Million

Don't expect a strategy change at NBCUniversal with new leadership, Comcast President Mike Cavanagh said Thursday as the company announced Q1 2023 earnings. CEO Brian Roberts said Cavanagh will oversee NBCU while remaining Comcast president. He replaces Jeff Shell, who left over an "inappropriate relationship" with a female employee (see 2304240009). Comcast for the quarter had revenue of $29.7 billion, down 4% year over year due to tough competition from last winter's Winter Olympics and Super Bowl, said Chief Financial Officer Jason Armstrong. It ended the quarter with 29.8 million residential broadband customers, roughly flat from the same quarter a year earlier. Cavanagh said adding residential broadband subscribers in the near term "is likely to be a challenge" due to competition, but those numbers "will eventually return to subscriber growth." He said the company had some success in the quarter with broadband packages targeting lower-end value consumers with a $25 broadband offering or $50 for that paired with mobile service. He said business services revenue is nearing $10 billion annually, and Comcast sees a potential $50 billion market in its footprint. Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson said about 20% of Comcast's footprint has been upgraded to multi-gig capabilities, with that growing to more than 30% by year's end. Armstrong said the company anticipates expanding its network to 1 million additional businesses or residences this year, up from 850,000 in 2022. Comcast ended the quarter with 5.67 million wireless lines, up almost 1.4 million, and 15.5 million video subscribers, down 2.1 million. It said U.S. Peacock subscribership at 22 million was up almost 60% year over year and up 2 million from the end of 2022. It said Peacock losses are expected to be $3 billion this year -- a peak, with the red ink to decline from there.